LAWRENCE  J.  GUTTER 

Collection  of  Chicogoono 

THE   UNIVERSITY   OF   ILLINOIS 
AT  CHICAGO 

The  University  Library 


Digitized  by  the  Internet  Archive 

in  2012  with  funding  from 

CARLI:  Consortium  of  Academic  and  Research  Libraries  in  Illinois 


http://archive.org/details/heartofchicagoOOhead 


., 


THE 


New  England  Magazine 


New  Series. 


JULY,   1892. 


Vol.  VI.     No.  5. 


THE    HEART   OF   CHICAGO. 

By  Franklin  H.  Head. 


HEN  the  trav- 
eller approach- 
es the   city  of 
London,  the  first 
object    which 
meets  his  gaze, 
in    surveying    it 
from  a  distance, 
is   the   stately 
dome    of  St. 
Paul's    Cathed- 
ral.    A    nearer 
approach  brings 
into   view    the 
less  stately  tem- 
ples and  public 
buildings,    the 
of  Parliament    and   Westminster 
In  approaching  Paris,  the  most 
conspicuous    objects    are    the    towers    of 


Tower  of  the  Auditorium. 


House 
Abbey. 


pie  of  the  Muses  and  Graces  which  the 
world  has  seen,  in  its  hotel  and  office 
annex,  is  made  to  subserve  the  purposes 
of  commerce.  The  contrast  is  thus  strik- 
ing and  significant,  illustrating  the  fact 
that  in  the  first  development  of  a  city,  as 
in  an  individual,  business  transcends  in 
importance  the  questions  of  religion  and 
art.  We  are  taught  that  the  body  is  of 
small  importance  as  compared  with  the 
mind  and  the  soul,  yet  the  body  is  far 
more  clamorous  in  its  demands  ;  and,  as 
neither  a  statesman,  a  seer,  poet,  nor  a 
human  soul  can  be  satisfactorily  matured 
without  a  body,  material  wants  must  first 
be  met. 

Chicago  is  a  city  of  magnificent  dis- 
tances,—  its  extreme  length,  north  and 
south,  along  the  shore  of  Lake  Michigan, 
being    twenty- four    miles,  and    its    width 


Notre    Dame  and  the  glistening  dome  of     varying    from    five    to    ten    miles.       The 


the  Invalides.  Long  before  aught  else  is 
visible  of  the  imperial  city  of  Rome,  the 
towering  dome  of  St.  Peter's  arrests  at- 
tention. And  so  with  most  of  the  great 
cities  of  the  old  world ;  the  buildings  of 
greatest  magnitude  and  grandeur  are  the 
public  or  government  buildings  and  tem- 
ples of  worship. 

In  approaching  the  city  of  Chicago,  the 
conspicuous  objects  are  the  massive" tem- 
ples of  trade  and  commerce,  the  vast 
warehouses  for  the  storage  of  grain,  the 
lofty  office  buildings,  or  the  great  Audi- 
torium, where  even  the  most  superb  tem- 


heart  of  Chicago,  however,  by  which  is 
meant  its  business  centre,  is  comprised  in 
an  area  something  over  half  a  mile  square, 
extending  from  the  main  Chicago  River 
south  as  far  as  Harrison  Street,  and  from 
Michigan  Avenue  west  to  the  south 
branch  of  the  river.  The  city  thus  stands 
in  striking  and  absolute  contrast  to  the 
sympathetic  and  sentimental  Mrs.  Skew- 
ton,  who,  as  the  readers  of  Dickens  will 
remember,  herself  admitted  that  she  was 
"all  heart."  Considered,  however,  in 
reference  to  its  accessibility  by  water  and 
by  land  to  all  the  principal  lines  of  trans- 


THE    II HART   OF    CHICAGO. 


Moonlight  by  the  Lake  Front. 

portation,  the  heart  of  Chicago,  like  that 
of  the  martyred  Lincoln,  is  unquestion- 
ably in  the  right  place. 

On  its  northern  border  is  the  Chicago 
River,    where    are    the    landings    of    the 
steamboat  lines  radiating  from  Chicago  to 
all  the  principal  ports  of  the  Great  Lakes. 
In    its    early   days,   before    the    city   was 
reached    by    railways,    its    business    was 
largely    conducted    by   water,  and   South 
Water  Street,  along  the  bank  of  the 
Chicago  River,  was  its  first,  and  for 
many  years,  its  only  business  street. 
On  its  west,  south,  and  east  sides 
are  the  terminals  of  all  the  railroads 
of   this   greatest   railroad  centre  in 
the    world,  so  that    the    passengers 
reaching  the  city  by  any  method  of 
public    conveyance    are    landed    in 
immediate    proximity    to    the    very 
heart  of  the  city ;   in  fact,  the  large 
amount  of  room  acquired  for  these 
railroad  terminals  immediately  about 
the  business  centre  has  a  tendency 
to   prevent   its   enlargement   toward 
the  south,  which  would  be  its  natural 
direction  of  growth. 

Many  people  unfamiliar  with 
Chicago  are  puzzled  by  the  desig- 
nations, "  North,"  "  South,"  and 
"  West  Divisions  "  ;  but  these  terms 
will  be  immediately  explained  by  a 
glance  at  the  map,  which  will  also 
show  the  location  of  the  business 
centre  of  the  city.     It  will  be  seen 


that  the  river,  with 
its  bran  c  h  e  s,  is 
something  like   the 

letter"  Y,"  the  main 
river  being  about 
three  quarters  of  a 

mile  in  length,  when 
it  divides  into  two 
streams  known  as 
the  North  and  South 
branches.  The  ter- 
ritory north  of  the 
main  river  and  lying 
between  its  North 
branch  and  Lake 
Michigan,  forms 
the  "North  Divi- 
sion." South  of  the 
main  r  i  v  e  r  and 
lying  between  the 
South  branch  and  the  lake  is  the  "  South 
Division,"  and  the  area  lying  west  of  the 
North  and  South  branches  is  the  "  West 
Division."  The  heart  of  the  city  is  in 
the  north  end  of  the  South  Division. 
This  territory  was  entirely  burned  over 
at  the  time  of  the  great  fire,  so  that 
none  of  its  construction  dates  back  of 
the  year  1872. 

As  is  the  case  in  most  large  cities,  the 


ibSsW* 


fjljfli:  f. 


to  'If.,. 

tU-la 

iSFltf 
!t£_ejf 


WmM 


iJeilil 


The  W.  C.  T.  U.  Building. 


THE   HEART   OF   CHICAGO. 


553 


different  classes  of  business  tend  to  segre- 
gate and  to  concentrate  in  certain  locali- 
ties. Commencing  at  the  north  end  of 
the  business  district,  South  Water  Street, 
which  is  to  most  of  the  people  of  Chi- 
cago, as  well  as  to  the  strangers  within 
her  gates,  a  veritable  terra  incognita,  ex- 
tends across  the  business  district  along 
the  side  of  and  parallel  with  the  river. 


wholesale  banana  houses,  a  wholesale 
house  in  this  line  indicating  that  nothing 
smaller  than  a  cluster  is  sold.  The  deal- 
ers in  oranges,  in  spring  chickens  of 
all  ages,  in  cheese  and  watermelons,  in 
onions  and  asparagus,  in  potatoes  and 
cucumbers,  in  game  of  all  varieties  in  sea- 
son and  out  of  season,  in  strawberries  and 
string  beans,  in  turnips,  turkeys,  and  toma- 


The  Lake   Front. 


This  street  is  almost  entirely  given  over 
to  the  sale  of  fruits,  garden,  and  farm 
produce.  These  products  arrive  in  the 
city  partly  by  team  from  market  gardens 
in  the  vicinity,  but  more  largely  by  rail 
and  water,  and  are  delivered  to  the  hun- 
dred or  two  small  stores  on  both  sides  of 
South  Water  Street.  This  street  is  about 
half  a  mile  in  length,  and  is  at  all  hours 
a  most  interesting  and  picturesque  pan- 
demonium. The  sidewalks  are  packed 
with  boxes  and  barrels,  among  which 
thousands  of  people  elbow  their  several 
ways,  and  the  street  is  so  filled  with  teams 
that  one  wonders  how  any  can  ever  be 
extricated.  There  are  thousands  of  small 
markets  and  grocery  houses  in  all  parts 
of  the  city,  and  from  each  of  these  places 
come  express  wagons  from  morning  until 
night  to  distribute  throughout  the  city  the 
South  Water  Street  wares.  Of  perish- 
able fruits  and  vegetables,  nearly  all  re- 
ceived in  the  morning  are  sold  during  the 
day.     On    this  street    may  be    seen    the 


toes,  in  butter  of  all  grades,  from  delicious 
freshness  to  extraordinary  power,  in  eggs 
old  and  young,  in  artichokes,  celery,  and 
pineapples,  in  peanuts  and  popcorn, — 
here  traffic  side  by  side  in  interminable 
confusion  and  endless  hurly-burly. 

The  traders  on  South  Water  Street,  in 
addition  to  supplying  the  million  and 
one  half  people  in  Chicago  and  its  sub- 
urbs with  their  fruit,  their  garden,  poul- 
try, and  dairy  products,  supply  at  least  as 
many  more  in  the  outlying  towns,  send- 
ing the  early  products  of  the  South  as 
far  west  and  north  as  Omaha  and  Winni- 
peg, and  in  like  manner  distributing 
northern  products  throughout  the  terri- 
tory between  Chicago  and  the  Gulf  of 
Mexico.  Over  fifteen  thousand  carloads 
of  California  products  alone  were  last 
year  distributed  from  this  tumultuous 
centre.  Forty  or  fifty  carloads  of  ba- 
nanas are  not  an  unusual  daily  delivery, 
and  on  one  gala  day  a  year  or  two  ago, 
one    hundred    and    fortv    thousand    half 


554 


////•;    J  IK  ART   OF    CHICAGO. 


bushel  cases,  each  containing  sixteen 
theoretical  quart  boxes  o[  strawberries, 
were  received.  The  word  "  theoretical" 
is    advisedly   used,  —  the    familiar    claret 


wpisr 


it'll 


. llliir 


Marshall  Field  &  Co.'s  Wholesale  Store. 

bottle  of  Dr.  Holmes,  which  harbored  in 
its  roseate  bosom  "  a  dimple  which  would 
hold  your  fist,"  being  fairly  distanced  by 
the  quart  berry  box  of  to-day.  In  addi- 
tion, too,  to  supplying  from  this  point 
the  wants  of  the  territory  indicated,  each 
of  the  five  great  trunk  lines  between 
Chicago  and  the  seaboard  sends  eastward 
a  daily  train  of  refrigerator  cars,  loaded 
with  poultry,  eggs,  butter,  fruit,  and  other 


perishable  products,  for  New  York,  Boston, 
Philadelphia,    and    intermediate     points, 
from  this  same  crowded  thoroughfare. 
The   next   street   south,  is  Lake  Street, 
running     substantially    parallel     with 
South  Water,  and  this  street  is  sub- 
stantially   given    over   to   the   leather 
and  hardware  trades. 

The  office    district  commences   at 
Randolph  Street,  the  next  street  south 
of  the  Lake,  and  extends  southward 
to  Harrison  Street,  occupying  a  large 
proportion  of  the  frontage  on  Dear- 
born, Clark,  and  La  Salle  Streets.  The 
territory  between  Dearborn  Street  and 
Michigan  Avenue  is  largely  occupied 
by   retail    dry    goods  merchants  and 
dealers  in  fancy  articles  of  merchan- 
dise.    West  of  the  office  district  are 
the    wholesale    merchants  of  various 
kinds,  although  the  wholesale  grocers 
are  largely  upon  Michigan  and  Wabash 
Avenues  between  South  Water  and  Wash- 
ington Streets,   and  the  wholesale    milli- 
nery establishments  upon  Wabash  Avenue 
south  of  Washington  Street. 

In  the  district  described  are  over 
twelve  hundred  tall  chimneys  and  over 
two  thousand  steam  boilers.  A  large 
wholesale  house  or  office  building  con- 
sumes for  heating  purposes  and  the  run- 
ning of  its  elevators  as  much  steam  power 


Among  the   Docks. 


THE   HEART   OF   CHICAGO. 


.>.>& 


as  a  large  factory,  and  in  the 
small  business  centre  of  Chi- 
cago, nearly  one  million  tons 
of  coal  are  annually  burned. 
Bituminous  coal  is  sold  at 
about  one-third  the  price  of 
anthracite,  which  makes  its 
use  absolutely  imperative, 
and  the  careless  methods  of 
burning  this  fuel  have  given 
to  the  city  an  atmosphere 
rich  in  unconsumed  carbon, 
and  suggestive  of  Pittsburgh 
in  her  grimiest  days.  Vigor- 
ous efforts  are  now  in  prog- 
ress to  abate  this  nuisance, 
and  the  workers  in  the  busi- 
ness district  cherish  fond 
hopes  of  occasional  glimpses 
of  the  sun  itself  in  the  near 
future. 

The  most  noticeable  fea- 
ture of  the  heart  of  Chicago  is 
its  size.  The  business  of  this 
city,  covering  an  area  of  one 
hundred  and  eighty -one 
square  miles,  is  substantially 
all  done  or  managed  in  an 
area  something  less  than 
thirty  -  five  hundred  feet 
square.  The  city  has  some 
thirty  large  banking  estab- 
lishments, nearly  all  of 
which  would  be  embraced  in  a  circle 
with  a  radius  of  nine  hundred  feet. 
Within  this  circle,  too,  would  be  included 
the  principal  office  buildings.  The  con- 
centration of  business  into  so  small  an 
area  has  its  advantages  in  convenience 
of  communication,  which  seems  thus  far 
sufficient  to  prevent  its  spreading  to  any 
considerable  extent  to  other  parts  of  the 
city.  This  concentration,  however,  leads 
to  excessive  crowding  of  the  streets  and 
sidewalks,  amounting  to  a  serious  hin- 
drance to  travel.  Compared  with  many 
of  the  busiest  Chicago  streets,  the  most 
crowded  avenues  of  New  York  or  Boston 
are  meagrely  peopled,  and  those  of  Phila- 
delphia are  a  desert  waste.  John  Phenix 
describes  a  densely  packed  crowd  on  the 
San  Francisco  wharves  to  witness  the 
departure  of  the  mail  steamer,  and  men- 
tions that  much  suffering  was  caused  by 
the  passing   of  heavily  loaded  drays   on 


The  Masonic  Temple. 

the  heads  of  the  people.  Should  the 
crowd  in  the  Chicago  streets  increase  for 
the  next  few  years  as  in  the  past,  this 
human  pavement  of  the  chief  thorough- 
fares may  be  a  necessity,  thus  doubling 
their  capacity. 

After  the  great  fire,  the  city  ordinances 
for  a  time  practically  prohibited  the 
erection  of  buildings  exceeding  four  or 
five  stories  in  height,  and  the  business 
district  was  largely  covered  with  struc- 
tures of  this  class.  The  idea  underlying 
the  building  laws  was  that  no  building 
should  be  so  high  as  to  be  beyond  easy 
reach  of  the  appliances  for  the  extin- 
guishment of  fires.  When  the  erection 
of  fire-proof  buildings  was  commenced, 
greater  heights  were  allowed,  and  since 
that  time  many  of  the  buildings  erected 
twenty  years  ago  have  been  torn  down  to 
be  replaced  by  the  ten  to  twenty-four 
story  structures  of  to-day.      In  other  cases, 


556 


THE    HEART  OF   CHICAGO. 


whore  the  inundations  and  walls  were 
sufficient,  additional  stories  have  been 
placed  upon  the  older  buildings.  Within 
the  present  year,  some  of  the  buildings, 
which  five  or  six  years  ago  were  con- 
sidered the  finest  buildings  in  the  city, 
have  been  torn  down,  and  the  entire  cost 
of  the  original  building  sacrificed,  that  its 
site  might  be  occupied  by  a  building 
adapted  to  the  present  wants  of  the  city. 
Of  the  office  buildings,  the  one  known  as 


other  points  ship  large  amounts  of  grain, 
yet  the  bulk  of  this  grain  is  owned  and 
marketed  by  Chicago  men  and  Chicago 
capital.  Omaha,  Kansas  City,  and  several 
other  western  towns  have  vast  establish- 
ments for  the  curing  and  packing  of 
meats,  yet  these  establishments  are  owned 
in  Chicago,  and  their  products. are  mar- 
keted from  that  point. 

Chicago  is  now  and  always  has  been  a 
city  of  young  men.     Even  now,  when  the 


?;";''' 


ilL    m 


State  Street. 


the  Rookery  is  at  this  time  the  largest, 
3,800  people  being  employed  within  it. 
Several  of  the  other  office  buildings  house 
2,000  people  and  upwards. 

Chicago  is  the  business  centre  and 
commercial  metropolis  of  more  than 
25,000,000  people,  and  it  is  scarcely  an 
exaggeration  to  say  that  the  business  of 
this  number  of  people  is  transacted  upon 
this  space,  3,500  square  feet.  This  is  the 
grain  market  ot  the  continent ;  for,  al- 
though   Duluth,    Milwaukee,     and    some 


city  has  passed  its  semi-centennial,  very 
few  of  its  active  men  of  affairs  are  past 
middle  life.  In  an  article  of  this 
character,  it  would  perhaps  be  unwise  to 
speak  largely  of  instances  of  individual 
enterprise,  but  a  few  typical  cases  may  be 
mentioned  where  large  success  has  been 
achieved  by  wise  management  in  different 
lines  of  trade  carried  forward  in  the 
heart  of  this  city. 

Mr.   Potter  Palmer  came    to    Chicago 
from   Madison  county,    New    York,    and 


THE   HEART   OF   CHICAGO. 


oot 


""•; ....  -'   \n   v'  (v  r>.?    ■ , j'   r  rs « v. 

•„^FiS«; --.■.'■'  >S';->:h'.:  -  v1;  rf'i 


rii 


k»  lis  1  nwml  iw' ;:  ;^  ^ 

,     «aF   u  i,n  41.  »^.  |;_  rirf^-4n  ^?;r  ijL!l     '    'Ol^W 


built  up  what  was 
for  many  years  the 
leading  dry  goods 
business  of  the 
city.  Foreseeing 
the  future  growth 
of  the  town,  he 
retired  from  the 
business  some 
twenty -five  years 
since,  investing  his 
capital  in  Chicago 
real  estate.  He 
was  the  pioneer 
in  the  construc- 
tion of  fine  mer- 
cantile buildings, 
and  before  the 
great  fire  was  the 
owner  of  many  of 
the  finest  build- 
ings of  this  char- 
acter in  Chicago, 
all  of  which  were 
then  destroyed. 
His  enormous 
losses  in  no  way 
discouraged  him. 
His  belief  in  the 
future  of  Chicago 
real  estate  has 
never  wavered, 
and  the  great  for- 
tune which  he  has  accumulated  by  wise  retirement  from  the  dry-goods  trade, 
investments  in  this  line  is  the  best  The  business  of  his  house  is  now  the 
commentary  upon  his  foresight  and  largest  of  any  mercantile  house  in  its  line 
sagacity.  Mr.  Palmer  was  active  and  in-  in  America,  the  annual  sales  being  nearly 
fluential  in  securing  the  location  of  the  $40,000,000,  and  this  in  a  strictly  mer- 
World's  Fair  in  Chicago ;  and  Mrs.  cantile  business.  A  single  house  in  New 
Palmer,  as  president  of  the  women's  York  can  possibly  show  larger  aggregate 
branch  of  this  great  enterprise,  has  dem-  annual  sales,  but  this  house  acts  as  the 
onstrated  that  one  who  had  heretofore  agent  for  various  cotton  and  woollen 
been  known  as  a  devoted  wife  and  factories  in  New  England,  selling  their 
mother,  a  beautiful  and  accomplished  goods  upon  commission,  so  that  the  sales 
hostess,  and  with  active  sympathies  with  of  goods  purchased  by  themselves  and  re- 
all  that  is  best  in  literature  and  art,  pos-  sold  are  much  less  than  those  of  their 
sesses  a  remarkable   power   of  organiza-     Chicago  rival. 

tion,  which  will  be     illustrated     by    the  Mr.    Philip    D.  Armour's    name    is    fa- 

grandest  exhibition  yet  seen   of  women's     miliar  throughout  the  world  as  the  great 
work.  packer  of  meats  :    but    few    people,  per- 

Mr.  Marshall  Field  came  to  Chicago  haps,  realize  the  fact  that  Mr.  Armour 
when  a  young  man,  from  a  Massachusetts  does  by  far  the  largest  mercantile  business 
village,  and  was  the  senior  member  of  the  in  the  world.  His  yearly  aggregate  sales 
firm  which  bought  the  merchandise  and  of  packing-house  products  exceed  S70,- 
goodwill  of  Mr.  Potter  Palmer  upon  his     000,000.     His    customers    are    in    every 


BftMl. 


The   Rookery  and    Board   of  Trade. 


558 


THE    HEART   OF   CHICAGO. 


city  of  every  continent.  In  his  office  arc 
a  half-dozen  telegraph  Instruments,  each 
with  its  operator,  and  messages  arc  re- 
ceived hourly  from  every  principal  mar- 
ket in  the  world.  In  addition  to  his  busi- 
ness in  meats,  he  is  the  largest  dealer  in 
grain  in  America,  and  through  the  tele- 
graph wires  clicking  constantly  in  his 
office  his  linger  seems  to  be  upon  the 
pulse  oi  the  whole  commercial  world. 

Mr.  George  M.  Pullman,  a  native  of 
western  New  York,  has  a  name  which  is, 
too,  a  household  word  with  the  whole 
world  of  travellers,  whose  comfort  he  has 
so  long  and  ceaselessly  labored  to  pro- 
mote. The  first  inventor  of  a  practicable 
sleeping-car,  he  has  given  to  the  develop- 
ment of  his  ideal  the  years  of  his  business 
life.  His  system  of  sleeping,  drawing- 
room,  and  dining  cars  is  co-extensive 
with  the  railway  system  of  the  continent ; 
while  not  covering  all  the  lines  of  railway, 
his  constant  study  to  give  to  the  travelling 
public  all  possible  comforts  and  con- 
venience has  compelled  others  to    hold 


have  also  erected  within  its  border  many 
of  its  finest  buildings.  The  wholesale 
warehouse  of  Marshall  Field,  covering  an 
entire  square,  was  built  by  Richardson, 
and  is  the  finest  building  of  its  kind  in 
America  ;  while  the  Pullman  Building  was 
the  first  of  the  model  office  structures  of 
the  city. 

The  successful  business  men  of  Chi- 
cago are,  too,  as  a  rule,  men  of  great 
public  spirit,  active  in  the  duties  of  citi- 
zenship, and  enthusiastic  in  their  belief  in 
the  future  of  the  city.  All  enterprises  of 
public  or  charitable  nature  aimed  at  the 
upbuilding  or  development  of  the  city  re- 
ceive from  them  a  cordial  and  generous 
support.  New  York  possesses  im- 
measurably greater  accumulated  wealth 
than  Chicago,  having  garnered,  doubtless, 
a  greater  number  of  dollars  than  Chicago 
has  cents ;  yet  it  is  easier,  in  behalf  of  a 
public  measure  for  the  good  or  glory  of 
the  city,  to  raise  dollars  in  Chicago  than 
cents  in  New  York.  There  is  in  Chicago 
almost  no  inherited  wealth.     The  capital 


The  Auditorium  and    Lake    Front   Perk. 


their    traffic     by     the     adoption     of    his 
methods. 

The  four  citizens  who  have  been  named 
have  fitting  place  in  an  article  on  "The 
Heart  of  Chicago,"  since  they  are  not 
merely  among  its  most  successful  and 
widely  known  men    of  affairs,    but  they 


is  thus  far  largely  in  the  hands  of  those 
who  have  accumulated  it,  and  they  seem 
to  realize  that  the  city  and  its  marvellous 
growth  and  opportunities  have  been 
factors  in  their  success,  and  are  willing  to 
recognize  their  public  obligations.  The 
Armour  Mission,  with  its    Kindergarten, 


THE   HEART   OF   CHICAGO. 


559 


Manual  Training,  and 
other  schools,  wherein 
thousands  of  waifs 
have  been  taught  the 
possibility  of  a  higher 
and  better  life  and 
fitted  for  its  attain- 
ment, with  its  ample 
endowment  for  future 
work,  will  doubtless 
preserve  the  memory 
of  its  founder  long 
after  his  wonderful 
commercial  achieve- 
ments have  been  for- 
gotten. The  new 
University  of  Chi- 
cago, the  endowment 
of  which  has  been  so 
munificently  com- 
menced by  Mr. 
Rockefeller,  has  for 
its  site  a  large  and 
valuable  tract  of  land  donated  by  Mr. 
Field ;  while  the  hand  and  purse  of  Mr. 
Pullman  are  ever  open  for  every  worthy 
cause. 

The  owner  of  inherited  wealth,  as  a 
rule,  feels  less  strongly  than  the  worker, 
his  duties  to  the  State,  but  even  to  this 
rule  Chicago  affords  some  shining  ex- 
ceptions. The  names  of  Peck,  Mc- 
Cormick,  Hutchinson,  and  Ryerson  re- 
call to  us  young  men  inheriting  ample 
fortunes,  who  in  older  communities  might 
have  been  fops  and  idlers ;  but  who  in 
this  atmosphere  of  enthusi- 
asm and  abounding  life  are 
among  the  most  public- 
spirited  citizens,  acting  upon 
the  theory  that  relief  from 
the  necessity  of  labor  entails 
upon  them  the  obligation  to 
devote  time  and  energy  to 
the  promotion  of  the  public 
good. 

The  architecture  of  the 
business  centre  of  Chicago 
is  not  of  especial  excellence. 
The  building  of  twenty  years 
ago  was  of  thick  and  sub- 
stantial walls  and  deep -set 
windows,  the  interior  neces- 
sarily somewhat  dark  and 
gloomy.        The    latter    idea 


Hallway   in   Auditorium. 

is  to  make  the  walls  as  thin  as  is  con- 
sistent with  safety,  the  windows  large  and 
numerous,  and  the  interior  as  light  and 
airy  as  possible. 

The  concentration  of  the  city's  busi- 
ness into  so  small  an  area  has  enormously 
increased  the  value  of  real  estate  in  this 
favored  locality.  Lots  upon  the  business 
streets  are  usually  from  ioo  to  150  feet  in 
depth,  and,  as  a  rule,  prices  are  fixed  by 
the  front  foot  rather  than  by  the  square 
foot,  as  is  the  usage  in  some  of  our 
eastern  cities.     It  is  but  a  few  years  since 


Dinmg-Ro 


560 


THE    HEART   OF   CHICAGO. 


Clark  Street. 


the  first  sale  of  land  at  $1,000  per  front 
foot  was  recorded,  and  the  most  hopeful 
of  our  real  estate  dealers  conceded  that 
the  price  was  excessive  and  that  it  would 
be  long  before  this  valuation  would  be 
exceeded ;  but  within  the  last  two  years 
several  sales  and  leases  have  been  made 
based  upon  a  valuation  as  high  as  $10,000 
per  front  foot,  and  even  at  this  valuation 


Marshall  Field  &  Co. 


it  is  claimed  that  the  property  when  im- 
proved with  the  best  style  of  lofty  office 
or  mercantile  building  will  earn  a  reason- 


able interest  upon  its  cost.  High  rentals 
would  seem  to  be  a  serious  drawback  in 
lines  of  business  open  to  general  compe- 
tition ;  yet  merchants  appear  to  find  it  to 
their  advantage  to  pay  the  extravagant 
rents  necessitated  by  the  high  price  of 
central  property,  rather  than  to  remove  to 
equally  commodious  quarters  half  a  mile 
distant  at  one-tenth  the  annual  rental. 
One  reason  of  this  may  be  that  all 
the  four  hundred  miles  of  intramural 
lines  of  transportation,  in  the  way 
of  horse-car,  cable,  and  elevated 
roads,  terminate  in  the  business 
centre  of  the  city,  and  thus  bring 
the  customers  of  the  merchants  from 
all  parts  of  the  city  to  their  very 
doors. 

In    construction,    no    deep    base- 
ments or  sub-cellars  are  practicable, 
as  the  city  is  built  upon  land  but  a 
few  feet    above    the    level  of   Lake 
Michigan.      It  stands  upon  a  bed  of 
clay  of  varying  thickness  and  density, 
which  is  a  most  unsatisfactory  ma- 
terial upon  which  to  place  founda- 
tions.    The  best  method  yet  devised 
is  to  cover  substantially  the   whole 
area   of  the  building  with  pads  of  steel 
and  cement.     Steel  rails  are  placed  paral- 
lel with  each  other  and  six  or  eight  inches 


THE   HEART   OF    CHICAGO. 


oGl 


apart,  the  spaces  between  them  filled 
with  cement,  another  similiar  course 
placed  above  these  and  at  right  angles 
to  the  first,  and  so  on  for  four  or  five 
courses.  Buildings  upon  this  foundation 
settle  but  little  and  settle  uniformly,  so 
that  no  damage  is  done  to  the  walls. 
The  method  used  elsewhere  •  in  swampy 
locations,  of  driving  pile  foundations, 
has  not  been  satisfactory  in  Chicago. 
The  Government  Building  for  the  Post- 
Office  and  Federal  Courts  is  built  upon 
piles,  and  while  it  has  been  completed 
for    many   years,    is    constantly    settling, 


greatest  possible  amount  of  room  in  a 
given  area,  so  that  many  of  the  lofty 
buildings  are  as  unpicturesque  as  a  dry- 
goods  box  pierced  with  holes  for  windows. 
The  Women's  Temple,  however,  which 
was  the  latest  work  of  Mr.  John  W.  Root, 
an  architect  of  brilliant  promise,  whose 
early  death  was  a  public  calamity,  the 
great  Auditorium,  the  Venetian  Building, 
and  the  Masonic  Temple  are  exceptions 
to  the  general  monotony,  and  examples 
of  possibly  the  best  results  achieved  in 
buildings  of  this  class.  The  sky-scraping 
buildings  are  now  almost  entirely  of  steel 


Interior  of  Board  of  Trade. 


and  its  absolute  collapse  seems  im- 
minent. A  local  statistician  of  unchal- 
lenged accuracy  has  computed  that,  at  its 
present  rate  of  travel  toward  China,  the 
highest  point  of  the  roof  will,  in  sixty 
years,  be  forty  feet  below  the  level  of 
Lake  Michigan,  which  would  necessitate 
the  employment  of  submarine  divers  for 
the  entire  clerical  force  of  the  Post  Office 
and  the  removal  of  the  Federal  Courts  to 
other  quarters,  except  during  the  trial  of 
cases  in  admiralty. 

But  few  even  of  the  latest  office  build- 
ings have  any  architectural  features  of 
excellence,   the   effort   being  to   get   the 


construction,  the  spaces  between  the 
thoroughly  braced  steel  framework  being 
filled  with  hollow  tiles,  and  the  inner 
partitions  made  from  the  same  material. 
This  style  of  building  is  much  less  weighty 
than  those  constructed  of  solid  masonry, 
a  building  twelve  stories  high  carrying  no 
greater  weight  upon  its  foundations  than 
a  brick  or  stone  building  of  seven  or 
eight  stories.  This  method  of  construc- 
tion is  new,  and  the  world  is  waiting  lor 
an  architect  who  will  design  a  building 
of  this  class  which  will  happily  illustrate 
its  method  of  construction,  the  present 
idea  being  to  simulate  in  these  light  and 


5  62 


THE   HEART   OF   CHICAGO. 


Court   House  and   City    Building. 

airy  buildings  the  massive  mason-work 
of  earlier  days. 

Within  the  limited  area  to  which  our 
attention  has  been  devoted,  nearly  every 
imaginable  business  is  transacted.  Four 
of  the  principal  clubs,  the  Union  League, 
Chicago,  University,  and  Athletic  Clubs, 
own  their  quarters  in  this  district.  The 
Union  League  Club  was  organized  with 
plans  similar  to  those  of  the  New  York 
Club  for  which  it  was  named,  and  has 
given  much  attention  to  municipal  affairs 
in  the  direction  of  promoting  honest  city 
government. 

In  addition  to  the  national  banks,  a 
considerable  number  of  banks  have  been 


organized  under 
state  laws,  w  h  i  c  h 
are  substantially  the 
same  as  the  national 
banking  laws,  except 
that  the  state  banks 
issue  no  circulating 
notes.  The  aggre- 
gate deposits  of  the 
state  and  national 
banks  at  the  date  of 
their  last  report  was 
something  over 
$208,000,000,  the 
leading  national 
bank  alone  owing  to 
depos  i  t  o  r  s  over 
$29,000,000. 

In  the  business 
district  are  also  the 
publication  offices  of  the  different  news- 
papers. Several  of  the  newspaper  com- 
panies own  their  buildings,  and  the  latest 
one  completed,  the  Herald  office,  is  con- 
ceded by  authorities  to  be  the  most  con- 
venient and  best  equipped  newspaper 
establishment  in  the  country.  Chicago 
has  long  been  noted  for  the  excellence 
and  enterprise  of  its  public  journals, 
there  being  none  in  the  country  which 
display  greater  push  and  energy  in  se- 
curing the  latest  and  most  reliable  news 
matter.  It  is  pleasant  to  note  also  that 
these  purveyors  of  intelligence  have  in  a 
pecuniary  way  been  liberally  rewarded, 
sundry   comfortable    fortunes    have   been 


Twilight  on   Lake    Michigan. 


THE   HEART   OF   CHICAGO. 


5C3 


Interior  First  National  Bank. 


acquired  by  their  proprietors.  Mr. 
Joseph  Medill,  the  Nestor  of  Chicago 
journalists,  is  the  editor-in-chief  and 
principal  proprietor  of  the  Tribune, 
which,  in  circulation,  enterprise,  and 
earning  capacity,  is  one  of  the  first  of 
American  journals.  Mr.  Medill  has  ac- 
quired a  competency  in  his  profession, 
and  now  spends  much  of  his  time  in 
home  and  foreign  travel. 

The  Inter  Ocean  is  also  a  paper  of 
wide  circulation  and  influence,  which  has 
long  been  edited  and  managed  with  sig- 
nal ability  by  Mr.  Wm.  Penn  Nixon. 
The  prosperity  of  the  Inter  Ocean  has 
recently  enabled  Mr.  Nixon  to  transfer 
much  of  his  detail  work  to  his  business 
associates,  and,  having  taken  as  his 
motto,  "Inter  otiuni  cum  dignitate,"  he 
will  doubtless  hereafter,  in  comparative 
ease,  enjoy  the  rewards  of  an  industrious 
life. 

Ex-mayor  Harrison  has  recently  pur- 
chased the  Chicago  Times,  being  anxious 
for  new  worlds  to  conquer,  and  hopes  to 
restore  to  this  paper  the  prestige  which 
it  enjoyed  under  the  management  of  the 
late  Wilbur  F.  Storey. 

Mr.  James  W.  Scott,  the  publisher  and 
largely  the  proprietor  of  the  Herald  and 
Post,  by  his  admirable  management  and 
his  genial  personality  has  obtained  a 
large  clientage  for  his  papers  in  a  much 


shorter  period  than  is  usually  necessary 
to  secure  the  public  confidence  and  sup- 
port. 

Mr.  Victor  F.  Lawson's  paper,  the 
Daily  News,  in  its  three  editions,  morn- 
ing, noon,  and  evening,  enjoys  an  enor- 
mous circulation.  Mr.  Eugene  Field  is 
one  of  its  editorial  staff,  and  by  his  quaint, 
humorous,  artistic,  and  breezy  paragraphs, 
in  prose  and  verse,  has  helped  to  win  for 


Potter   Palmer. 


564 


THE    HEART   OF   CHICAGO. 


Marshal!   Field, 

the  journal   its   hosts  of  friends  and   ad- 
mirers. 

Chicago  is  a  city  wherein  are  repre- 
sented divers  nationalities,  and  many  of 
these  have  papers  published  in  their  na- 
tive tongues,  with  wide  circulation  among 
their  especial  clientage.  There  are  also 
several  religious  journals,  ably  edited  and 
having  a  wide  denominational  circulation, 
as  well  as  sundry  others  depicting  the 
social  life  and  gossip  of  the  town,  and 
multitudes  of  weekly  papers,  agricultural 


or  devoted  to  the  interests  of  special 
lines  of  trade. 

The  city  has  also  in  its  business-  dis- 
trict the  general  offices  of  all  the  great 
railway  systems  west  of  Chicago,  repre- 
senting nearly  one-third  of  the  railway 
mileage  in  the  United  States.  Thousands 
of  clerks  are  employed  in  these  offices, 
where  the  transportation  facilities  for 
twenty-five  million  people  are  regulated, 
wrangled  over,  and  controlled. 

Chicago  is  the  largest  lumber  market 
in  the  world,  and  the  offices  of  the  hun- 


life" 


Geo.   M     Pul'man 


Philip  D.  Armour. 

dreds  of  lumbermen  and  lumber  com- 
panies are  found  within  this  same  limited 
area.  Here,  too,  is  the  Chicago  Board 
of  Trade  Building,  an  architectural  mon- 
strosity, in  and  about  which  are  hundreds 
of  offices  occupied  by  the  members  of 
the  Board.  Here  is  transacted  the  bulk 
of  the  vast  business  of  the  city  in  grain 
and  provisions,  as  well  as  probably  one 
hundred  times  as  much  in  fictitious  trades, 
through  puts,  calls,  options,  or  futures, 
through  which  instrumentalities  the  Chi- 
cago man  of  speculative  tendency  gambles 
in  the  specialties  of  the  market,  as  his 
Eastern  brother  bets  upon  the  prospec- 
tive value  of  railway  or  industrial  stocks 
or  bonds.  Near  by  are  the  numerous 
offices  of  the  Columbian  World's  Fair, 
from  which  go  forth  daily  thousands  of 
letters    and    circulars  to    arouse   the    in- 


THE   HEART   OF   CHICAGO. 


alio 


terest  of  the  world  in  the  coming  Exposi- 
tion of  the  arts  and  industries  of  all 
nations. 

The  arrivals  and  clearances  of  vessels 
at  Chicago  exceed  in  number  those  of 
the  port  of  New  York,  although  not  equal 
to  New  York  in  tonnage,  and  in  the  busi- 
ness district  are  the  offices  of  all  the 
great  marine  transportation  companies. 

There  is  but  one  church,  the  First 
Methodist,  in  the  business  quarter, 
although  two  other  large  audiences  are 
gathered  each  Sunday  to  listen  to  the 
ministrations  of  Prof.  David  Swing  and 
Dr.  H.  W.  Thomas  in  Central  Music 
Hall  and  in  McVicker's  Theatre.  These 
two  brethren  have  been  suspected  of 
heresy,  as  not  subscribing  to  a  belief  in 
the  damnation  of  all  unbaptized  infants, 
and  other  cheerful  and  comforting  doc- 
trines of  the  ancient  regime,  and  are  thus 
outside  denominational  lines.  It  cannot 
be  claimed  that  Professor  Swing  attracts 
his  large  and  intelligent  audiences  by  the 
graces  and  charms  of  the  orator.  His 
power  is  due  to  the  fact  that  he  has 
something  to  say,  that  he  is  a  genial, 
wise,  and  scholarly  teacher,  and,  as  an 
essayist  and  a  man  of  letters,  is  unques- 
tionably the  first  in  Chicago  and  the 
West. 

The  dozen  leading  hotels  of  the  city 
are  also  located  in  the  crowded  business 
centre.  No  worker  in  this  district  has 
time  to  go  to  his  home  for  lunch.  The 
hotels,  even  when  kept  on  the  American 
plan,  have  cafe  annexes,  and  these,  with 
the  clubs  and  scores  of  restaurants,  are 
thronged  for  an  hour  or  two  in  the  middle 
of  each  day.  Multitudes  of  saloons  are 
also  scattered  throughout  this  district. 
The  writer  recalls  reading  in  his  youth  a 
book  called  "  Riley's  Narrative,"  wherein 
were  graphically  depicted  the  perils  of 
the  captain  and  crew  of  an  American 
brig  wrecked  on  the  African  Coast,  and 
their  fearful  sufferings  from  thirst  while 
wandering  over  the  great  desert.  This 
book  had  a  mission,  and  since  that  time, 
even  in  a  frontier  town  like  Chicago, 
there  are  thousands  of  people  who  have 
forsaken  other  means  of  livelihood  for 
the  purpose  of  opening  resorts  where  the 
agonies  of  thirst  may  be  averted,  and  who 
devote  their  leisure  moments  to  the  study 


of  certain  recondite  problems  of  muni- 
cipal government.  Even  should  Lake 
Michigan  go  dry,  no  citizen  of  Chicago 
need  die  from  thirst,  a  parched  and  dusty 
death. 

In  the  same  limited  area  are  also  the 
half  dozen  principal  theatres  and  opera 
houses.  Amusements  both  good  and  bad 
are  liberally  patronized,  but  it  is  to  the 
credit  of  our  population  that  dramatic 
artists  like  Henry  Irving  and  Booth,  and 
singers  like  Patti  and  Materna  play  longer 
engagements  and  to  larger  audiences  in 
Chicago  than  in  any  other  American  city. 
Like  credit  is  fairly  earned  from  the  fact 
that,  as  has  often  been  publicly  stated  by 
Mr.  Phelps,  our  late  Minister  to  England, 
Chicago  supports  by  far  the  largest  and 
most  complete  retail  bookstore  in  the 
world. 

The  City  and  County  Buildings  occupy 
a  square  in  this  crowded  quarter.  Here 
hundreds  of  faithful  as  well  as  unfaithful 
public  servants  are  busily  at  work,  or 
actively  avoiding  work,  and  in  and  about 
the  vast  buildings  throng  the  grim)i crowd 
of  idlers  and  vagabonds,  to  whom  courts 
and  public  offices  are  ever  a  fascinating 
resort. 

The  enormous  business  transacted  in 
Chicago  by  its  great  jobbers  of  groceries, 
hardware,  and  metals  is  familiar  to  all 
those  interested  in  such  affairs. 

The  sales  of  the  Illinois  Steel  Company 
of  its  own  product  for  the  last  year  ex- 
ceeded $30,000,000,  the  company  pro- 
ducing 1,000,000  tons  of  pig  iron  from 
1,500,000  tons  of  ore,  and  of  this  metal 
itself  converted  800,000  tons  into  finished 
steel  products. 

But  it  is  useless,  as  well  as  almost  im- 
possible, to  undertake  to  catalogue  the 
endless  variety  of  occupations  which  are 
represented  in  the  heart  of  Chicago. 
The  writer  confesses,  however,  to  a  novel 
experience,  on  recently  entering  a  small 
shop  where  nine  or  ten  men  were  em- 
ployed, and  learning  that  the  business 
carried  on  was  solely  the  manufacture  of 
shoes  for  corpses.  The  proprietor  stated 
that  he  sold  exclusively  to  undertakers, 
who  required  a  tidy-looking  shoe,  the 
wearing  qualities  of  which  were  not  im- 
portant. 

The  business  centre  of  Chicago,  until 


THE   HEART   OF   CHICAGO. 


a    comparatively  recent   time,  has   been 

largely  built  with  borrowed  capital.     The 

average  Chicago  man  has  been  a  large 
borrower,  believing  that  he  could  afford 
to  pay  liberal  rates  of  interest  by  reason 
of  the  growth  in  value  of  his  property. 
The  city  has  been  largely  settled  from 
New  Kngland  and  New  York,  and  our 
kinsmen  of  those  parts  have  been  willing 
to  loan  their  capital  for  the  purpose  of 
the  development  and  upbuilding  of  the 
city,  so  long  as  they  could  secure  for  it 
better  rates  of  interest  than  prevailed  at 
home.  The  maxims  of  the  economist 
are  numberless  to  the  effect  that  the  bor- 
rower is  the  slave  of  the  lender,  and 
bound  to  be  by  him  ultimately  devoured ; 
yet  in  the  large  majority  of  cases  in  Chi- 
cago these  maxims  have  been  disproved 
by  the  rapid  increase  in  the  value  of  city 
real  estate.  Some  years  since,  at  a  ban- 
quet of  the  Real  Estate  Board,  a  well- 
known  operator,  feeling  that  confession 
was  good   for  the  soul,  frankly  admitted 


Pullman   Building. 


that  from  the  beginning  of  his  business 
career  he  had  been  lying  incessantly  as  to 
the  prospective  growth  of  the  city ;  but 
claimed  that  the  city  had  overtaken  and 


passed  all  his  lies,  and  made  them  to 
rank  with  the  inspired  prophetical  books 
of  the  Old  Testament. 

The  business  centre  of  Chicago  is 
bounded  on  the  east  by  Michigan  Avenue  ; 
and  between  this  and  Lake  Michigan  is  a 
strip  of  land  400  or  500  feet  wide  and  a 
mile  in  length,  extending  along  the  shore 
of  the  lake,  which  is  used  as  a  public  park. 
The  beauty  of  this  park  is  sadly  marred 
by  the  continual  passing  along  its  front  of 
the  trains  of  the  Illinois  Central  and 
Michigan  Central  railways.  Negotiations 
are  pending,  the  result  of  which,  it  is 
hoped,  will  be  the  moving  of  these  rail- 
way tracks  eastward  about  1,000  feet,  the 
filling  of  the  lake  to  that  point,  and  the 
addition  of  this  land  to  the  present  park. 
This  will  be  something  unique  in  the 
building  of  a  city,  and  will  give  immedi- 
ately, beside  the  most  crowded  business 
district  in  the  world,  a  spacious  and 
picturesque  park,  beyond  which  will  be 
the  panorama  of  the  lake,  beautiful  in 
itself,  and  rendered  more  beautiful  by  the 
continual  passing  of  the  hundreds  of  steam 
and  sailing  craft  on  its  bosom. 

The  growth  of  Chicago,  and  of  the 
manufacturing,  commercial,  and  mercan- 
tile interests  represented  in  its  business 
centre  has  been  phenomenal,  and  it  is  a 
question  of  interest  whether  this  growth 
is  to  continue  or  has  nearly  reached  its 
limit.  A  city  originates  no  wealth,  but 
lives  by  adding  new  value,  either  in  labor 
or  transportation,  to  the  products  of  the 
fields,  forests,  and  mines.  The  principal 
business  of  Chicago  is  to  the  westward  of 
the  city,  although  the  states  of  Michigan 
and  Indiana  are  among  its  tributaries. 
The  country  lying  west,  northwest,  and 
southwest  is  a  region  of  unexampled  fer- 
tility. In  any  of  these  directions  a  per- 
son may  travel  from  700  to  1,000  miles 
beyond  Chicago  and  scarcely  see  an  acre 
of  unproductive  land.  In  no  other  region 
in  the  world  can  be  found  so  large  an 
area  yielding  so  rich  a  return  to  farmers. 
The  growth  of  a  city  is  necessarily  de- 
pendent upon  the  growth,  development, 
and  prosperity  of  the  country  tributary  to 
it ;  and  looking  at  the  matter  from  this 
standpoint,  Chicago  would  seem  yet  to 
have  large  capacity  for  growth.  Con- 
sidering the  territory  within  500  miles  of 


THE   MEANING    OF   THE   SONG. 


5G7 


the  city,  to  this  time,  not  one-half  of  the 
land  has  ever  been  ploughed  or  cultivated. 
Outside  this  limit  not  one-tenth  part  has 
ever  known  the  labors  of  the  husband- 
man. The  country  tributary  to  Chicago 
is  increasing  more  rapidly  in  wealth  and 
population  than  any  other  part  of  the 
nation,  so  that  vastly  larger  numbers  of 
people  than  are  at  present  resident  in  the 
city  can  doubtless  in  the  future  find  occu- 
pation and  business  in  ministering  to  the 
constantly  increasing  wants  of  its  tribu- 
tary territory.  The  great  improvements 
made  within  the  last  generation,  in    all 


kinds  of  agricultural  machinery,  enable  a 
single  farmer  to  cultivate  and  care  for 
several  times  as  much  land  as  he  could 
have  managed  forty  years  ago,  and  this  is 
a  large  factor  in  the  growth  in  population 
of  our  cities  as  compared  with  rural  dis- 
tricts. A  lesser  number  of  people  on 
farms  can  produce  the  food  of  the  world. 
It  would  seem  to  be  settled  that  hence- 
forth an  increasing  proportion  of  our  pop- 
ulation will  be  residents  of  cities.  This 
appears  from  many  standpoints  to  be  an 
evil ;  but  who  shall  say  what  conditions 
are  most  fitting  in  these  changeful  days? 


ti 


5MS 
2 


